Toussaint Louverture, St Dominique: emerged as the rebellion’s national leader … and abolished slavery from Hispaniola for ever … Bonaparte’s army suffered huge losses. ibid.
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, The African, written by himself: it was far from the last such attempts to discredit the veracity of black suffering. Ibid
Phillis Wheatley: poems on various subjects were published in London in 1773 when she was 19. She was born in Gambia, and like Sancho, was separated from her family for ever when she was snatched. ibid.
Sojourner Truth ... She heard the spirit of God calling on her to tell the truth … She began to preach restlessly … on the abolition of slavery … She came to know other prominent abolitionists. ibid.
Ned Turner was hanged … Fredrick Douglas escaped his enslavement in 1838. He became a great writer and orator … William Still: ibid.
Canada: Harriet Tubman: The Underground Railway had many heroes. Chief amongst them is Harriett Tubman … ‘I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.’ [Tubman made 13 trips to the South and rescued approximately 70 people from bondage]. ibid.
The American Civil War was over. Enslaved people were now free people. Though the chains of physical bondage were gone, new ways were found to restore the pre-war social order to keep black people down and subjugate them. Racist Jim Crow bylaws for example were enacted in the South long before South Africa institutionalised them as Apartheid … Not all men were created equal; in Black America t he struggle continued. 400 Years of Taking the Knee II
William E B Du Bois 1903: condemned Washington’s programme of industrial education, conciliation of the South, and submission and silence at their political rights. ibid.
Marcus Harvey was described by du Bois as, ‘The most dangerous enemy of the Negro in America and in the world.’ ibid.
100 days after Emmett Till was lynched, in December 1955 Rosa Parks was to initiate the year-long Montgomery bus boycott. ibid.
‘We can’t solve this problem through retaliatory violence. We must meet violence with non-violence.’ ibid. King
Rosa Parks’ bus boycott eight years earlier had it parallel in Bristol in the west of England: Paul Stephenson, the city’s first youth black officer … The Bristol Bus Boycott was organised: it took just 60 days to succeed. ibid.
Muhammad Ali’s boxing career took a turn towards social activism in 1966 when he refused to be drafted into the military, publicly declaring his opposition to the Vietnam war. ibid. King
May 1940: Germany invades the Netherlands. Five days later the Dutch surrender. United by their hatred of the Nazis, a struggling artist and an accomplished cellist take on the might of the German army; using their artistic skills they save thousands of Jews from the death camps. Stephen Fry: Willem & Frieda: Defying the Nazis, Channel 4 2023
When you see that the government and their relatives are looting the country, you have to disobey, rise up, get on the streets, drive them out of the country, send them in to exile, and nationalise their illegal gains. Nelson Mandela
Southall, 1976: This was a racist murder [Gurdip Singh Chaggar]. Defiance: Fighting the Far Right I, Channel 4 2024, Balraj, Southall Youth Movement
We knew that the whole of the Asian community up and down the country was under siege, and we knew the police were against us … But we were the protectors of Southall. ibid.
The problem was there was a lot of hatred towards you. ibid. chap
School: There would be racial attacks in class. It was humiliation they wanted. ibid. Balraj
In our hearts there was a kind of anger burning. ibid.
Chaggar murder: I am quite satisfied that neither of you was activated by feelings of racial prejudice. This was basically not a racist killing. ibid. Mr Justice Lawson
Originally, there were five people who were arrested. Two were released and the other three faced a lower manslaughter charge. And they got very lenient sentences. Why were they walking around with a knife … ? ibid. chap
Brick Lane is now the focus of National Front agitation. ibid. News
You are doing this because of survival. Your community is under siege. ibid.
In the ’70s you got clear messages watching TV which mocked the Asian people coming here. Defiance: Fighting the Far Right II: A Killer in the Ranks, Balraj
The political parties were effectively falling over each other to be more anti-immigration. So in Southall we started building community resistance. ibid.
If the fascists got away with it without any opposition, what would happen to the small communities around the county? ibid. chap
The police decided they are going to make the centre of Southall a no-go area. So they set up roadblocks … [People] were not allowed to go to their own homes. ibid.
I left East London on that day with Blair Peach … The fight against racism was very important to us … We ended up penned into the Broadway for a long time … ibid. teacher
Suddenly, we saw mountain police coming with their truncheons drawn hitting everybody. ibid. chap
I do not know the thought processes of these officer. ibid. Asian rozzer
They [rozzers] protected them [National Front] and unleashed violence on us. ibid. woman
I had a fractured skull and a blood clot on my brain. ibid. Clarence Baker
Our [community] centre was destroyed. ibid.
You had police officers blatantly lying in court. ibid. Balraj
Kids had their lives ruined because of the criminal prosecutions. ibid.
14 witnesses told Commander Cass they saw Blair Peach hit by a police officer. No police officer admitted seeing Peach at the time and place his injuries took place. ibid. captions
Police Protect the Fascists! Defiance: Fighting the Far Right III: The Right to Fight, protest chant
Skinheads and they were smashing up the windows … They came in the coachloads. ibid. Balraj
Walthamstow: Scientists have now confirmed that petrol was poured through the letterbox and then ignited. ibid. TV news